Month: March 2017

“Glory Over Everything” by Kathleen Grissom is truly — without doubt — a book that will cause readers to lose track of time and keep turning page after page. It’s fabulous. And it’s now available in paperback.

The protagonist is Jamie Pyke, whom the reader meets as Jamie Burton, after he is adopted by a well-to-do silversmith and his wife in Philadelphia. Jamie fled north from a strange childhood. He was raised as a white child by what he found out was his grandmother. He had thought her his mother. The hateful man Jamie had thought was his brother was really his father. When his father decided to sell Jamie as a slave, he escaped but not quickly enough to save his grandmother from a fire that consumed his childhood home. He killed his father that night and then fled north.

The majority of the story is about Jamie’s relationship with those whom he befriends and those who have helped him. Most of the story takes place in 1830, but the action begins in the middle, and then goes back in time to when Jamie first arrived in Philadelphia in 1810. He tells the story of how he ended up at the Burton’s home and how they came to adopt him. His first person narrative is entwined with the first person narrative of others in the novel.

Update: Penelope was pulled by rescue thanks to all those who shared her story! Thank you all!

Shelter workers neglect to change the status on a dog’s kennel card and a young dog may die because of it.

Penelope was pre-adopted, and her kennel card was changed to show that. But when the adopter didn’t show, the card was never changed back. So no one looking to adopt a dog paid any attention to Penelope because she had the words “adopted” written on her kennel card. Not once but five times. Those words covered the kennel card. It was obvious to all who visited the shelter that Penelope was safe.

Now the shelter is giving Penelope less than 24 hours to get adopted or rescued or she will be killed. Unless the shelter received an email by 9:00 am tomorrow, Friday March 3rd, Penelope will be euthanized.

Jon Agee excels at creating picture books with unusual settings and characters. In “Life on Mars,” he continues his tradition with a story that takes place, obviously, on Mars. A young astronaut has longed to visit Mars and find the life that he is sure exists on that planet.

The young astronaut says that, “Everybody thinks I’m crazy. Nobody believes there is life on Mars. But I do. And I just know that I’m going to find it.”

He has brought a special gift for the life he expects to find on Mars: chocolate cupcakes. But as he wanders around the barren planet, he begins to doubt that he will find any life there at all. He puts the box down and decides that he should go back home. While trying to find his spaceship (he gets lost), he is thrilled when he does find life in the form of a flower.